Ten Years
by Acepilot6
Summary: Ten years after graduating high school, Phil is wondering what comes next in his life and if it's okay he doesn't know. A short fic written for the AGU 10th Anniversary Party. Reviews always appreciated.


**10 Years**  
Acepilot

8 - * - * - 8

"Explain to me why we're doing this?" I ask, running my hands through my hair.

Kimi smacks them away and tuts at my behaviour. She's using our hotel room's one mirror now to try and get her make-up right, but had me sat in front of it for a good ten minutes before trying to put mousse or wax or something to give me 'body and lift' or some such nonsense. "I just got that fixed up."

I roll my eyes at her. "It's my hair and it doesn't need fixing."

She just sighs. "Men."

I lean on the counter and cross my arms. "I was under the impression that you didn't entirely mind that I was a man."

She throws a quick glare at me but I just smirk back.

"We're doing this because it's our ten year reunion, Phil. Ten years! You know how often that happens?"

"Once a decade?"

"Once and once only," she tells me, putting the finishing touches on whatever it is she does to make her cheeks sparkle like that. I remain leaning against the counter and watching her. "It's been ten years since we graduated high school, and got out into the real world. Ten years since we went off to college, and got jobs, and - "

"Yeah, okay, it's been a while."

"Why aren't you more excited?" she asks.

"I don't know," I tell her. "I'm just..."

We didn't date in high school, or even in college. In fact, we barely spoke to or saw each other for the first three years after high school. It wasn't until we both ended up in New York seven years ago that we reconnected. Coffee, at first, which became dates, which became living together. We've been a couple for nearly five years now, married for nearly three months. She can pick up on my moods better than I can at times, so it's hardly like she needs me to finish that sentence.

"Why are you nervous?"

I don't even bother to deny the nerves. "Because it's been ten years and I've got no idea what I'm doing with my life."

Kimi quirks a brow. "What's that meant to mean?"

"Well, ten years ago, we were all geared up to get out into the world and become...whatever it was we were going to become. I was going to be a teacher, and you were going to be a lawyer, and Tommy was going to make movies and Chuckie was going to write and...and we all had plans, you know? We were going to be the greatest, and we were going to see each other all the time, and nothing was going to change."

"We were young and stupid," Kimi tells me, "everything changes."

"I know," I agree. "I just...I mean, here I am, twenty-eight years old, and already on a second career because I couldn't be bothered with the first one - "

"You weren't happy as a teacher, there's nothing wrong with that - "

"The last time I saw anyone I went to high school with - other than you, obviously - was when I ran into Susie at the supermarket. Two years ago."

"Well, it's a big country, and we live far away."

"I guess...well, when we graduated, it seemed like our reunions would hardly be necessary. Because...I dunno, we'd all be living in LA or something and it would just be an hour drive down the Coastal Highway and we'd hang out at Luke's Bar and Grill out of nostalgia and it wouldn't be special because we'd all see each other all the time anyway, and all our plans would have worked out, and...and instead it's something where we're going to go and see all these people for the first time in years. Where I'm going to tell people that I'm in college. Again. What if they've all changed? What if I'm the only one who hasn't grown up and become whatever it is I'm meant to become?"

Kimi sighs before turning away from the mirror to face me, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me in close. "I don't think there's anything that you're meant to become, Phil." She tucks her head into the crook of my neck and sighs. "When we were in high school they made it seem like it was setting us for the rest of our lives, but I think that's just crap. We're still learning, still changing, and the plans we made in high school...they're plans that never had to face the real world. Now we're out here and we're making it work. You haven't found what you want to do yet, and that's fine. I have, but that's for me. You will. This is a milestone, sure, but...it's like a tenth birthday more than a tenth anniversary. Ten years ago, our lives started. And I think any ten year old is entitled to still be finding their way."

I kiss the top of her head, careful not to mess up her own very carefully constructed hair. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she says. "Now, still nervous?"

"No," I tell her. "As long as I've got you by my side for this I think I'll be fine."

"Good," she says. "But if I'm going to be seen by your side, you're going to have to let me fix the damage you did to your hair..."

8 - * - * - 8

Author's Note:

I wrote this just this morning, when I woke up, so it's not been proof-read or anything. I wanted to share something with you all though.  
I don't think it's any coincidence that I was at my most productive as a fanfic author when the boards were at their thriving best. I discovered this fandom in September 2004 and started writing at the very end of that month, and spent the summer of 2004 and all of 2005 turning out story after story - a state that seemed natural to me because I actually read AGU fanfic before I ever got the chance to see an episode. And it was so easy because the community around me was so inspiring. We were all a part of something really great, we shared a lot of jokes and good times. The fanfic and fanart that was posted to the boards by some really great authors and artists inspired me to create more and more and to get better and better.  
When the original board was summarily deleted in the summer of '05/'06 it was a hard kind of moment to recover from, really (especially as I'd not long been made a moderator). I think nothing was really quite the same after that, and I also found it much harder to write because of personal things I was going through throughout that year. There was no new AGU for me to watch and I wasn't creating, I wasn't connected to the internet as much anymore after I moved away, and I kind of disappeared. And I regret that deeply.  
I had a wonderful time being part of the boards. It was a great community of people with shared interests who were a great part of my life at a time when I needed it most. So, thank you to everyone who was part of it, and most of all, thanks to Luke, for giving us that sense of community that made the boards such a great place to be.

Acepilot


End file.
